The situation with the tunnels under the city remains unresolved. A further attempt at penetrating the large underground cavern was partly successful. On your second attempt you did succeed in not tripping each other up, and fighting through the entrance. In the process, the man who took Johan’s arm was slain. What is very evident is that humans and beastmen (you know they are skaven, your PCs don’t) are working together. Worse, a man with a horned rat head escaped vowing to bring his 'peoples'. This, of course, did not stop you lolling around in the cavern, squabbling and acting as if you were out for a stroll.

You discovered a natural well spring, the source of many of the channels that sweep the city. The cavern seemed to be natural. However, you also found centred within it a dessicated tree ring/ tree henge surrounding what is clearly NOT natural. It looked to be a barrow built of unworked stone - and yet fitting perfectly. There was a clear doorway, with steps down and an altar of some type in front. Inside was a wooden boat, of very strange design/ wood. Inside were lots of bones, jars and pots and a mummified corpse wearing a helmet - two parts, of antler/ bone. None of this meant much to you, although you did note what appeared to be both Old Faith sigils and runes of unknown origin. Further "discussion" as to whether to burn what was clearly a holy site and whether to wear the helmet followed, interrupted by the return of the original occupants. A fighting retreat followed, and you were forced to give up the helmet.

A second trip to the tunnels found them completely blocked up, and the whole building cleaned out. The only sign that you found was the stench of urine marks on various walls. You also discovered that "Dirty" Olaf, an unlicensed 'wizard', had led a bunch of Guild goons into the building. You concluded that the beastmen had fully covered their tracks.

One positive outcome, although not for him, is a new recruit. Albrecht Bressofenschmidt was sent with you on the second expedition by the Rechengild, to whom he reported. He was not believed, and it seemed that he was thought to be acting as part of some political struggle within the guild by trying to tell such a far-fetched story. He is now looking for work, and has thrown in with the rest of you.

A job appeared courtesy of the Cult of Morr, who needed help in a 'complicated matter'. A dead body had been found on Ulrican lands, near Struppel. And there was a second death, of a fairly important man from the city. They were sending a cleric, Johannes Prochnow, and he needed reliable 'witnesses'. The pay is 4/- a day plus board and lodging. Worse was to follow as on morning of departure word arrived by galloping courier that Ritter Rabenhaupt von Nie has been murdered by his chief verderer - who was hiding on Morrite lands.

There were also a couple of personal threads too. Agneta and Johannes were asked to check on "Magister" Arnold von Baden, who was visiting Struppel Priory there. He had seemed unwell recently. Johannes was told a little more. There were also stories of a curse, linked to his excavation of the Black Barrow. Dietrich had heard stories of 'problems' there, and there was some discussion of witchcraft or the like at the time. Fortunately, it faded away quite quickly. Dieter also tells you that it is rubbish. Whilst curses do exist, for one to remain for 2,000+ years is inconceivable. And it was a Ducal-sponsored find. Arnold had never been the same since he came back, reclusive. He used to publish and lecture, now does nothing. Of course, he was actually the second death though it was not clear at this time.

Agneta and Johannes are also somewhat distant to each other. The rest of the party are not quite sure why. There was something said about their respective magical licenses. Agneta had also spent quite some time with her old Master.

Digging up burial mounds is, of course, anathema to the Cult of Morr, so this sounded a possible tension within your mission.

At Struppel, you discovered a cast of suspects and incidents. I will list them as you currently find them, rather than as things evolved.

Characters

Ritter Rabenhaupt von Nie was known widely as a lecher, cruel and self-centred. A hard man, and one not to cross. A firm friend, a good fighter and a strong Ulrican. He held a seat, and influence, on the Diet of the Estates. He ran great hunts - which lent many import Duchy figures (including the Grand Duke) to his sway. He also visited Altdorf regularly as the Duke’s representative.

Ritter Franz von Nie, was given a bequest by the father to establish himself in a marine company. He has since returned. He is an obvious suspect, since he inherits. However, you strongly suspect that he does not. Very cleverly, you deduced that Ulricans do not need to be married, since they can acknowledge bastards. Even better, it seems quite possible that the Cult of Ulric can politically recognise anyone. So, the likely inheritor of the lands will be someone selected by the Cult. You also discovered him searching the rooms when you arrived. He has no alibi, but you tend to believe his story (below).

Ritter Udo von Nie, a half-brother, younger of the three, whose mother was the second wife, inherited lands through his mother at Punzen. You have crossed paths with him before. You found nothing to link him.

Prioress Sophie von Nie, youngest, half-sister whose mother was the second wife (died in child birth). Again, you have found nothing to link her with the death. Except. We ended the session with a pack of hunting dogs having followed a trail from the latest death (see below) to her private gate at the priory.

Brother Franz Clausewitz is chaplain. You have discovered little about him.

Freiherr Joachim Rupe is Imperial plenipotentiary and agent, here to invite Ritter Rabenhaupt von Nie to Altdorf, as Carroburg representative of the Diet of Estates.

Doctor Maurice Toulon is also dead, our last body. You never talked with him. Aldhelm stole his medical equipment and practising physician’s license. You noted that it carries the Imperial crest. You discovered that he had been assistant to Wanda Noll, one of the Emperor’s physicians.

Ralf Kirkengaard, a Marienburg merchant, was here to discuss various trade issues and was at the hunt.

Ritter Conrad von Baden (Nachterwitz) is a neighbour, and was at the hunt.

Kurt Tauber, an Ulrican ‘knight’ (mercenary captain) and his sergeant Boris Rack were also at the hunt. Obviously, you did your best to get into a fight with this pair.

Erich Bremer is Chief verderer and chief suspect. His story is full of holes, but you think that he is actually covering for his daughter. He has sought sanctuary at the Priory chapel. Run by the Cult of Morr as a polytheistic chapel to all gods for the village. He finally admitted to poisoning Rabenhaupt and Fritz von Nie to make them unwell, as he feared for his daughter.

Dagmar Bremer is his very attractive daughter. Rabenhaupt wanted her. So do a number of guests. He doesn’t trust the Prioress. And where can he send her? She lives in the village.

Klaus Baumann is the village priest. He has a reputation as a doctor, rather mystical.

The Wolfman is an outlaw who has been plaguing Ritter Rabenhaupt von Nie by shooting arrows towards him - with messages tied to them. "Remember" and "Remember the Guarded Gate". This you did resolve, although it seemed he might be a culprit. The Guarded Gate is an inn in Carroburg. 20 years ago Rabenhaupt raped the inn-keeper’s wife. She ended up dead, as did the inn-keeper. There was a son....

Josef Braun is that son, disguised as a hermit. His bloodied sore-encrusted hands, are just covered in bandages. He is a cleric of Shallya, which seems to confirm his story that he sought to scare rather than kill.

There are also a number of outlaws in the forests, although mostly said to be harmless and starving. You heard of one particular, slightly more successful group, from Josef. He reckons that they are soldiers. He also admitted that he found the body (see below).

The various events and locations are as follows:

The Hunt: Huntsmen, dogs (with whippers-in) and beaters drive the prey into a pallisade, around which the 'hunters' wait. (You deduced that this was hardly sporting). Something went wrong this time, it was not well organised, and the prey arrived too quickly and escaped. As the hunters failed palpably to react in time, Ritter Rabenhaupt was shot through the neck. (You did not directly ascertain this, but it was an excellent shot).

Everyone claimed to be at the hunt and where they should have been. Two immediate suspects were brother Franz, who was not there, and the verderer who was also not where he ought to have been. The brother claimed to be unwell, then returned promptly to the manorhouse - "to prevent looting". The chief verderer went to check on his daughter. The nobles and knights seem to have all descended upon the chapel having chased the verderer there.

If the verderer is to be believed (and this took some time), the brother’s story might be correct because he was given poison by Erich, since he was hoping to prevent Rabenhaupt "popping off" to visit the daughter. However, you ascertained also that Erich went to see his daughter, who was not there. It also appears she is an excellent shot herself. She eventually admitted to being with some peasants at some new assarts. You suspected that she might have been poaching.

You checked the fletching on the arrow and the position of the hunters (but not their arrows). The latter proved that no hunter could have shot. Toulon and Kirkengaard were taking advantage of the refreshments. The arrow is a good quality home-made one.

The Priory: is focussed upon a relic of the hair tresses of the Queen of the Wood. They are a very unusual almost bleached blonde colour. Never seen the like before. Rabenhaupt had paid for a refurbishment of the shrine, which had just been completed. This is surprising as he did not believe in relics, and had rarely ever visited.

The pallisaded priory is a small self-contained community, obviously with a number of its own amenities and commercial assets and grounds. These include infirmary, bakery, windmill, forge and stables, outhouses and storerooms. Wealth is also clear in the 'modern' 'Tilean' style of gardens. Still, everything looks well used, so they are not 'rich'.

A number of different groups live here within a collegial sisterhood, but one that offers various interpretations of the tresses. These are:

• Rhya - one of the daughters of Rhya when the world was new
• Morr - a miracle against decay, proof of permanence in the hereafter
• Queen of the Wood - the Queen’s own hair, shorn as a gift to her followers
• Ulric - all that remains of an army of female invaders from beyond the sea/ a female sea demon, slain by Ulric the wolf
• Sigmar - the tresses of Saint Josephine, betrayed to the Bretonnians by the Westerlanders

The body that you were originally come to investigate eventually received your attention. It had been left naked (and decaying) outside the Priory. (You later discovered that it was found hastily buried by the Wolfman. He believed that it deserved proper burial and left it for the officious priory to deal with). The prioress had insisted on immediate burning as it was upsetting to their house. The resident priest of Morr opposed this.

Cause of death was an arrow through the throat. The body had a number of tattoos upon it, apparently deliberately scoured. With the rot in the body, identification was impossible - but they appeared Ulrican. A request to the chaplain paid dividends, since not only did he confirm this, but he recognised the man -Erich Manzal. He was an Ulrican "Templar" from the north, who ran an Ulrican Field Hospital. He had been to see Rabenhaupt at the latter’s request, maybe three months earlier, and delivered him a packet. He had left - but obviously got nowhere. These two and Toulon had been fairly close.

The Black Barrow: is avoided because nothing grows upon it and snow always melts. It was opened up by "Magister" Arnold von Baden and his assistant Albert Veynde. His son Werner also turned up, having 'left' the Imperial Army. The professor returned to site one year on and has now died. This is because the barrow is "cursed". On opening the barrow many suffered general debility, lesions on the skin, fainting, loss of hair, headaches, vomiting.

Pieter joined the group late in Struppel, and he thought to see the Magister’s assistant before leaving. No-one else had thought to do this. This was his story:

Ritter von Nie refused them permission to carry out the work, so the group stayed at the inn. The village is quite prosperous because of the Priory and its relic. Three archaeologists stayed in rooms, workers in barn and common room. Some locals took employment. Werner stayed in garret.

They opened up the barrow. Illness struck, most workers ill. Magister too. He and his assistant found a box of stone slabs (quite usual in these finds) and opened it up. They found a casket! Unusual - normally scenes of "rebirth". The sun, annual cycle, agriculture, animals etc. This had skulls and crossed bones. It was bronze with silver and enamelled decoration and very heavy. They needed help to shift, so went to get workers and returned the following morning. When they returned and opened it, it contained normal goods - pair of fine bronze mirrors, broaches, beads, knives and bone fragments and ashes in two fine urns. All are on display in the Biblioteek. It was so heavy because lead-lined - some had eroded into a powdery ash, could see finger prints there! And there MUST have been something else - to account for the markings. He and Magister fell out over the theft.

You came to the conclusion after a number of clues that there was indeed 'something' else, and that this was the cause of emanations that caused the illnesses. You discovered that some had died and others recovered. The culprit was actually the son, after talking to the Priest. Werner came to him with burns on his hands, something hot he’d picked up. He said he hadn’t. Then he got fainting fits, nausea, headaches and became too weak to leave his bed. He died. Otherwise the priest was a bit vague, but did drop Dietrich’s name, that he had visited the village. Johannes quickly moved the story on.

Whatever it is would appear to be buried in some old mine workings, to which you followed the Magister. He had brought some equipment with him, which you found at the Priory. You didn’t recognise it, but it was actually lead working equipment. Mining contractors are here, examining area for coal. They have found evidence of coal workings from long ago, but little prospect now. The Magister came here, went into the tunnels and left. The miners also mentioned bandits/ outlaws.

Where we are: Doctor Toulon was missing when you went to question him. You learnt that throat shots are exceptionally good and also universally fatal, as an arrow in the throat means you cannot be saved. Franz also admitted that he wrote the note, and that the Doctor was involved with some intrigue in some way through Rabenhaupt, and one which involved Freiherr Joachim Rupe and Altdorf. Toulon was missing. After Aldhelm had finshed stealing things (and being caught), you obtained some hunting dogs and set off after him. You found him dead, with an arrow through the throat. Aldhelm again looted the body for his papers, and the dogs caught a scent from the scene. They took you to the Priory. This is where we restart.

Idiot Moment: This must go to Pieter who when approaching a noble of the Empire, shouted out to him "Hey, Franz! We need to talk".